Microscape: a 3D Printed Model of NYC | To+Wn Design and Ajsny

3D printed tiles have been used to create this beautiful sculptural miniature of NYC – the city that never sleeps. To+Wn Design & Ajsny join forces to reproduce high museum-quality models of urban architecture across the globe and this miniature is one of their first projects.

The tiles are detailed 1:5000 scale replicas, where up-to-date areal scan data is manually processed and printed in order to create a one hundred percent topographical reproduction of the city. When placed on an office desk, the model gives a bird’s eye perspective on the entire urban scene. The scan data also captures the city’s constantly changing face to freeze it in an immediate snapshot. Because the scans are being continuously updated, models printed later will never be the same like their predecessors. The 3D printed tiles represent four different NY districts – roughly a half mile square original size, measuring 6 by 6 inches in the copy and can be composited together to create a puzzle. They are made out of a non-toxic durable white thermoplastic extracted from corn starch – an extremely pure ecological material.

Courtesy of To+Wn Design & Ajsny

The Microscape models can serve various purposes – from purely aesthetic – when the detailed complexity of the urban architecture is shrunk in a miniature form, to educational and design purposes. The creators have launched a Kickstarter campaign allowing a landmark, limited edition of the whole NYC model to be purchased, as well as separate districts, for example Manhattan!

Courtesy of To+Wn Design & Ajsny

Depending on the success of the campaign, the developers will include additional printers in the working process and proceed further with elaborate reproductions of cities (Chicago and Paris to follow).

About The Author

Ut pictura poesis (As is painting, so is poetry).
Sabina Karleva, born in 1986 in Sofia, is a contemporary Bulgarian writer and a future MA graduate from the Cologne University in Media and Art History. Her debut book (The Wartime Photograph) – a collection of poetry, was published in 2013. She loves sculpting with words and reviewing art & design subjects